( : Neat Things : )

Just a few things to share right now. I just got back from another glorious girls night. This time I went with my friend Becki. We set out for a manicure and pedicure (gift certificate from my sister from my recent birthday). That was nice to get pampered and be able to chat without anyone throwing a tantrum or hanging on me or having to get a few words in between laps chasing a toddler or asking, "Do you want grapes?" or "Did you go poo poo?" or "Did you hurt yourself?" ETC.!!! Then we headed to Domo 77 Japanese Restaurant which is very similar to Benihana. They just built a brand new one by my house and it's HUGE!!! It was fabulous and delicious and just fun and mesmerizing to watch them cut up all that food into little bits and fling it around in the air. Then back home again to thank wonderful grandpa for watching Little Buddy a second time this week. He usually watches him once a week for our date night but we switched it up this week. He had already had him for 6 hours on Monday night while I was in the ER for severe lower abdominal pain. This has become a regular thing for the last several months and is progressively getting worse. This time I could barely pick up Little Buddy or walk up stairs alone. Two days later I got hurrendous stomach flu (unrelated to pain but ucky to be so sick nonetheless), just in time for hubby's 3 days off. Guess what he got to do on his time off? Poor guy. I am so lucky that it DID happen that way though, I got to sleep and suffer in peace . . . . . . for the most part anyway. Thanks honey!

On to good thing number 2. I went for my follow up appointment with my gyne on Friday and was finally given a referral to a specialist. AMEN!!! I so want to know what the heck is going on with my pain PLUS, I just turned 36 and have a bicornuate uterus so cannot waste a single moment in TTC another baby. Which could take years if in fact Little Buddy was a miracle. So happy to go and get it all figured out. For the last few years they just kept saying to keep trying and well, I'm not getting any younger and don't want to miss what last chance I may have to have another baby.

On to good thing number 3. We got a piano!!! My MIL & FIL were getting rid of theirs and getting a pipe organ and asked me if we wanted their piano. I played some piano and then my mother has taught piano since I was in the single digits and I was so very fortunate to grow up in a house hearing piano playing nearly every day often for hours at a time. This way she can play for Little Buddy when she comes over or any one else can tickle the ivories too if they so wish. I always wanted to get one if the price was right and it wasn't too big. This one fits the bill perfectly. It needs to be tuned, a key needs repair and it needs new wheels too but all minor costs in comparison to buying a used piano.

Good thing number 4. I don't have a new picture cause we still need to order paper sopping bags and color coordinated tissue, BUT I have created a store label to be adhered onto paper shopping bags for the boutique that I had mentioned about a week or so ago. I also made a screensaver for her computer(s). Tomorrow, I will be heading south to the store and dropping off over 700 business cards and labels too. I will post pictures once I have the labels on the bags and then stuffed with color coordinated tissue paper. These will be for bigger spenders and gift wrapped requests. We do not think it would be cost effective to give them out to every single person that just buys a toe ring or scarf. The boutique also carries Ed Hardy and Affliction among many other popular name brands. She has been doing well. We are all very happy for her.

Have any neat things big or small to comment about today? I'd love to hear about it!

I Heart UPS!!!

I wanted to share my recent very positive experience with UPS. I wanted to send a package to my dear friend Electronic Goose. Upon finally getting it all together, wrapped up, addressed and ready to go I headed out a few Monday's ago to run my errands. I was thrilled to finally get my Christmas, er uh New Year's, er uh "Gift for the New Year," sent out to my pal out near Boston. Ugh, it was Martin Luther King Day! The places I needed to go the most were closed; bank, post office. So I then ran over to the grocery store to pick up a few small items. It then struck me that there is a UPS store right next to the grocery store. As I pulled up it looked open (yippee!!!), so I decided to take in my package and just ask what it would cost to send it. I figured it would cost more than the post office. I handed my package over to the manager? Then she was able to tell me that it should be cheaper than the cheapest postage through the postal service. She told me it would be $12 and the cheapest through the postal service would be $18. Oh, and they would get it there 1-2 days quicker than the post office.

I was elated. I instantly said I'd take it. I was so shocked and pleased. They also have less waiting/crowds in the UPS store. All these years I thought that UPS was way more expensive. The manager was also able to give me the going rates for the postal service for my package for each type of delivery; parcel post, priority, etc. What a rip off the post office. What the heck is the problem? I cannot believe that postage is 42 cents and it is going to go up again soon. They also want to stop doing mail delivery one day a week? Give me a break. My dad just retired from the post office a few years ago. He was a computer engineer for the very sophisticated computerized conveyor systems at the distribution facilities. He said that it was such a joke. Half the time people were sleeping at work, out on fake disability, etc. He did work with a few nice people but they were few and far between. It's just amazing to me that in a federal job that you have to go through so much official training to get there is that much BS. It used to seem like the post office really had it together and was so honest and reliable. Maybe I was just a naive kid or too young to know at the time. Anyway, enough pissing and moaning. UPS is the way to go for superior package delivery.

Wisdom Wednesday

Dog For Sale

This is what is left of Little Buddy's teddy bear. He has suddenly gotten very attached to both of his teddy bears. He has a bigger one and then this one. I liked this one cause it was easier for him to carry or me to carry with Little Buddy. We got home the other night and this poor bear was laying on the rug by the couch. White stuffing was everywhere, the head was ripped off and flat from being "de-stuffed," and both eyes were chewed out of the head leaving some very eery holes in poor teddy's face where his eyes once were. This bear was a gift from Beth, my nurse/LC friend that helped me for two whole months with lactation to get breastfeeding going when Little Buddy was just born January 24th 2007. It was a very dark time in my life. He also had high bilirubin and had to have a light blanket at home. It was very scary and even the whites of his eyes were yellow. It was so sad. Then I got bad pumping advice from the LC at the pediatrician's office. My milk went way down. What a mess. Three of my goals in life (if I ever had kids) were to wait (which ended up being a stupid plan because I ended up having issues getting pregnant and carrying, another one of my brilliant ideas: planning children around my career, ugh!) then I wanted to stay home if/when I had kids and breastfeed. After taking awhile to conceive and then just barely being able to stay home because hubby got his dream job just as I conceived, phew, the breastfeeding ended up being the biggest and hardest thing. Oh, aside from having a baby as my husband graduated from the police academy and started at the pd. Ugh, what an awful, awful time. Yuck! Such stress. Then all hubby wanted to do was talk about himself. He was very detached and into his job. It was like, "Hellooooooo, we just started a family here, don't forget that we just had a baby!" After all, a job is just a job whether you are a cop, a garbage man, a doctor, etc. You will never get the days back when your children are babies. Life is much better now, but it has been a very bumpy few years here. To say that there was a LOT of adjusting to do is the understatement of our lives together. Think I now understand why many old ladies end up senile, with loads of gray hair, sags, bags, dimples, wrinkles, and talking to themselves. What a ride!

Oh, almost forgot, Grandma has agreed to try to fix Mr. Bear. I requested soft fabric eyes. Hopefully the kind of eyes that Tango does not feel inclined to chew out.

A Little Design On The Side

As some of you may know I was a graphic designer in my past life. Ha! Ha! That just came out of my screwy brain. Think you know what I mean though. Before I became a sahm (and even before I worked with Electronic Goose in a dreaded retail job), I was a graphic designer. I worked in publishing for 6 years. I worked at three publishing companies in those six years working my way up very fast from a part timer at a well known hunting and fishing publisher to a senior designer for a major publishing company in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. I originally dreamed of working at a really unique and fun graphic design place. As I finished school and being in the very competitive Chicago land job market I had to send out hundreds of resumes. It was disappointing to say in the least. I eventually ended up just taking out the yellow pages and cold calling any place that sounded remotely interesting. I could not afford to do a no pay internship, so I never got that experience to put on my resume. It was worlds harder to find a job.

So, I didn't get to do all the neat little cutsie design projects on a regular basis like most design majors dream of. I did however get to work on some pretty big and impressive ads, promotional pieces, magazine spreads, newspaper design, etc. I would do design projects on the side for family and friends from time to time which were/are usually very fun. I don't typically post any of the projects that I work on because they have pictures that I do not have permission to post on the blog that that family member knows nothing about. That's how I prefer it to be though which works out fine. I have been recently working on a logo, business card, letterhead, etc. for one of my friend's mothers. She will be opening a boutique which is not farm from where I live. She plans on having her logo (my original design) made into a neon sign, lighted sign for the building exterior, etc. It will go in the local papers as well. I have no idea why it feels so awesome NOW! I have had many designs I created on the internet, in people's invites, in magazines, newspapers, framed and hanging in people's homes, etc. Maybe it's because now I am able to put my heart into it. The money is not the object any more. I enjoy helping friends and family and making things special for them. It's not about handing it to a sales person and then having them get the kudos for my work. It's also no longer (usually) about designing something with lots of rules and constraints that ends up looking wonderful to a client but horrible to me. God, I hated that. Then my fellow designers would also think it was awful but it brought in the money for the account because the client was pleased with what we thought looked horrible. So embarrassing.

Anyway, this is the business card that I designed for the boutique. I cannot give out all the info about the boutique because I do not have permission. It will be a mix of ladies and men's items, and a mix of both clothes and accessories for many styles and sizes. She asked that I make a set of silver business cards for the guys and a set of pink business cards for the girls for her. Her store is opening before we would be able to get an order done from a printer so I printed them on my ink jet just to get her rolling and so that she'd have something to hand out for her grand opening which is tomorrow. She asked for 100-150 cards. I printed up 166 cards total and about half each of pink and silver. I then found this 4 tier card holder at Staples and thought it would make a nice effect to alternate color for each tier. I had no idea how it would transport to go to her grand opening tomorrow (with Little Buddy in tow), so I tied a thick pink ribbon around it to keep the cards in place and I think it's almost too pretty to use them now. Ha! Wish I could show you the rest of the logo, it's a vintage angel with horns and a halo (the name of the boutique is Heavenly Sinful). It had a devil's tail but she was freaked out by the tail so the angel is now "de-tailed." Hope she likes the cards and the holder!!!

Research is what I'm doing when I don't know what I'm doing. ~ Wernher Von Braun

My New Best Friend

Meet the Roomba 560, my new best friend. I have fantasized about having one of these forever. Our dog sheds so bad that our floors are furry just a day (even hours) after a thorough vacuuming. I have told people that I wanted a Roomba for a long time. See Little Buddy is terrified of the vacuum cleaner and then when he takes a nap or goes to sleep it is too noisy, plus usually I am ready to drop or do laundry, cleaning, unwinding, etc. So the floors just get furrier and furrier and crumbier too. Dirty floors really depress me and I felt like there was little I could do to remedy the situation.

About 2 weeks ago as my 36th birthday was approaching (February 9th). Some family members were calling my hubby asking what I wanted for my birthday. My SMIL remembered that I had wanted a Roomba and asked if that would be a good idea, seeing as though most women do not want appliances for gifts unless they are requested. My husband told her it was an awesome idea and so 6 of my husbands family members went in on one for me. Imagine my delight and surprise when I opened a big box in the middle of a restaurant during my birthday brunch and the whole place saw the Roomba box.

I think that older Roomba's were not as good as the current newer and improved models. They got a bum rap for years but I still thought it was an ingenious idea. The night I got it I came home and instantly started to charge it. I had heard all kinds of stories about them getting caught up in stuff or the compartment being too small, so I made sure to pick up and move lots of things. I moved electric cords, tiny little toys, picked up chairs, shoved furniture apart so Roomba could clean between it, swept out the corners and any other dirty nooks that Roomba cannot fit in, I also removed storage bins from under the beds. Then I let Roomba do it's thing. WOW! It did the whole room and then shut off when it had gone over everything (I think twice). The dust piles I had swept out of corners or nooks were all gone, the area rugs, ceramic AND hardwood was all clean. The biggest reward to when I turned the Roomba over and opened up the dirt chamber. YOWZAH!!! Now, I don't know about you but I like to see dirt when I clean, like on the dust rag, vacuum chamber, dust pile, etc. I know, I'm weird but I think most of us are like that. I would also like to say that I am making sure to empty the dirt chamber after each room so it does not overload or break. This thing is a priceless gem to me.

I also really only let it do one room at a time. The first night I was sitting and relaxing and went on the internet and my floors were being cleaned . . . . . . . . . . AS I RELAXED!!!!! Ha! If cars, large screen tv's, motorcycles, etc. can get a guy all hot and bothered, then this is the woman's equivalent.

A few drawbacks to be completely thorough with this product review. It cannot clean corners. It has gotten stuck under the side of one dresser and the pipes near the furnace once. It just sounds a warning tone and turns itself off. I have no idea how it would handle an area rug fringe but I think you could possibly just tuck it under? It cannot vacuum my carpeted stairs. The only thing in our house that is carpeted. I will need to buy a dirt devil soon cause using the humongous vacuum to clean them is completely back breaking and not at all thorough. Oh, one last thing is that you should really not be in the room when it is going cause it is like being chased and then you need to jump out of it's way otherwise it turns the other way and maybe won't clean that spot as well. I tried to run it in my kitchen the first night while I was putting away dishes and cleaning in there. If you guys could have seen that, none of you would have made it through the whole episode without peeing your pants. Honestly.

I think every woman should have one of these.

Coraline

I would like to recommend the movie Coraline. We went last week to see it on date night (with no kids). First of all, I love most Tim Burton films and films that are like that, kind of darker stories that are extremely creative and artistic with a dark twist. Even my big, tough, sarcastic, cop husband loved it. It really had our attention from the very beginning to the very end. The story line is geared more for adults but you could take a child that was maybe in mid to late grade school. I think that the moral is really good too for children AND adults. If you do not like Burton or his films, Coraline is not for you. Probably not a good pick for little kids either but then it all depends on the kid. This was the very first 3D film that I or my husband have ever seen. Cool! I felt like I could reach out and touch the needles as they sewed in one of the scenes. Anyone want to recommend a great movie or rental that you saw recently? I'm all ears!

An Award?

I can hardly believe that I just got my second blog award. My dear blog friend Martha from A Sense Of Humor Is Essential gave it to me, along with a small group of people. She gave me the Lemonade Stand Award. Now, like her I have really no idea what that means but I am going to steal her definition for it because that's what makes the most sense to me. So I can make lemonade out of lemons and/or I am the pause that refreshes. I'll take either meaning or both. Thank you Martha. I think we have only been reading each other's blogs for awhile now but I really appreciate her humor (how I first found her after a Google blog search), her maturity and wisdom, and her fun personality. If you haven't stopped by her blog yet, stop on over today. She often has some interesting and different views on various topics and of course, a great sense of humor, which IS so very essential.

Here are the rules for The Lemonade Stand Award:
1. You must link back to the person you received the award from.
2. You have to nominate bloggers who are deserving of this award!

The bloggers I would like to invite to The Lemonade Stand are:
Electronic Goose, Squirrel Chatter, Red Pens and Diapers, In Blue Ink, Lake Loop, & Living On A Whim.
You all are the "pause that refreshes", always!

Darkest Day At The PD

*****Warning: Toddler death AND late miscarriage mentioned here*****
The other day my husband called me in the evening from work. I was making dinner and Little Buddy was playing and I asked him how his night was going like I usually do. He said that it could quite possibly be the darkest day he's had since he started. Now I didn't know what to think cause he's had some really horribly dark days with stabbings, neglected children, train suicides, etc. He then told me that a 2 year old was killed. Those are the worst days for police officers of any age, experience, and personality. Apparently, a family was getting ready for dinner and all the kids came inside from playing outside. Then the 17 year old daughter was leaving in the family SUV. She was backing up and hit something. The little boy had quickly gotten outside and behind the car. Literally in the blink of an eye, toddlers move that fast. I won't go into detail but it was very bad the way it all transpired and he was dead instantly. All police were racing there including my husband even though it was out of his area. By the time that he got close there were so many people, paramedics, and law enforcement there that he called himself off. He knew that the situation was under control. He said he was glad because he did not want to see it, he didn't think he could handle it being the father of a 2 year old Little Buddy. I'm very glad he did not have to see it because I think that would have been very, very hard for him to get over.

Then upon returning to the department to work on new reports, he found out that his coworker who was 6 months along had miscarried. She was really excited and already had a few children. My husband really got into her pregnancy because we too are trying and eager to add on to our family. Apparently, she had some of the women in the office feel the kicking while she was working in there with them because they put her on light duty for the pregnancy. Then one day one of the women said she didn't feel anything and told the pregnant officer and the pregnant officer said that she did not feel anything for a couple of days. The office worker (an older, experienced mother of grown children and some grandchildren) told her she should go to the doctor just to get checked and put her mind at ease.

There was no heartbeat. The baby had died. They were going to induce labor that evening. She would have to deliver a deceased child. How awful, horrible and tragic. I could not even imagine the pain, the darkness . . . . . .

Then later I imagined what would happen to her. She would deliver the child and hold it. Then there would be a memorial. The child would most likely be named and photographed. The mother would still be wearing maternity clothes and her milk would come in too. She still has other children to care for. I cannot even imagine. I cannot imagine.

The whole department has been in a dark cloud ever since that day.

10 Of My Quirks

Well, this is a lot like the 25 things about me where you tag people, etc. Only this one is a little bit different. Instead of saying where you live, what state your hair is in, etc. you will share bizarre little things about yourself. Maybe you have some guilty pleasures, maybe you have some OCD that you desperately try to hide, whatever the case may be this is your chance to spill it. Let's all remember to be honest, not to judge, and to have some fun being able to embrace our oddities and laugh at ourselves. Thought this might be a nice mid-week tension reliever.

So please, if you are tagged, copy and paste this entire post. Then replace my quirks with your own and tag up to ten people, unless you have A LOT of quirky friends then tag em all!!! Have fun!

1) I hate fruit scented things, I prefer to smell like nothing or a light scent of herbs or flowers.

2) I hide chocolate and other little treats around the house. This drives my husband nuts. The fact of the matter is that years back I had a diabetic boyfriend that did not take care of himself. I, having a horrible sweet tooth would regularly have something sweet around, so I started hiding it for his own good. Now, I think I do it cause it is my ONE indulgence being that I no longer drink, smoke, party, drink pop, etc. If I forget to hide it my husband eats the whole thing. Sometimes I think it would be kind of funny what people would find in this house if I died. Ha!

3) I have an odd fascination with forensics, and murder and crime documentaries. Not Hollywood CSI but Snapped and Forensic Files. If Bill Curtis narrates it, I want to watch it.

4) I have a very sick sense of humor. I almost always think of the double side to most comments. I'm such a pervert, I can't help it, my own mother was always like that. It's permanently ingrained, though I mostly keep it to myself when I need to or it's inappropriate.

5) I love giving gifts to people that do not expect it. I like to give things to people always. Not even something fancy or expensive. I have run into a few people that were thoroughly freaked out by this.

6) I can smell everything, always. It is a curse. Though my nose has solved some mysteries and has caught a few people in lies before too. I wish it was not the case but I smell EVERYTHING!

7) I do not have "shows," like most people. I just really have no interest in most of the popular shows, PLUS I have a toddler and trying to watch almost anything can be very frustrating so I just watch old reruns and such when I catch them after bed time or nap time etc.

8) I am anal retentive about organizing. My house is NOT always clean or spotless but my brain works like a puzzle and I like things to fit together or to be easily accessible for highest living efficiency. I thought I got better with time but last time I had a friend here who wasn't like that and she looked in one of my closets, she was completely boggled.

9) I almost never answer my phone. I call people as I need to or I filter calls according to my mood and energy. I have always been like this but I think it's worse now because trying to talk on the phone with a toddler is often more trouble than it's worth.

10) I hate to waste anything. I have started to feel like an old lady at times regarding this issue. The last time I went out to eat with my sister I took all the clean unused paper napkins, the unopened butter pats, and wrapped the uneaten bread from the bread basket in a napkin and put it all in my purse to take home. I will not take things that would still be on the table and used like individual jellies, ketchup, etc. Only the things that will get needlessly tossed after I leave. Sounds silly but makes a lot of sense to me?

Now I am tagging Stacy of Squirrel Chatter, e-goose, Cheryl from Red Pens & Diapers, Angie from Wylie Mom, Martha from A Sense Of Humor Is Essential, Jenn from Living On A Whim, Nadine from In Blue Ink and Berrybird from Lake Loop. Please don't forget to comment back to me when you finish posting your list of quirks. Have fun!

Oh, The Places You Go!

This is me body rafting in the Grand Canyon, we rafted the Colorado River back in summer of 2002. There is a sulphur spring (forget what the name of it is) along the way down the Colorado River. The sulphur content is really high so you float. It's also really warm where most of the river is around 40-50 degrees. It was a blast! Not sure if we will ever go back and do the whole river again but would highly recommend it. One of the places I've been. Where have you been? Or where do you want to go?

God grant me the serenity to accept the people I cannot change, the courage to change the one I can, and the wisdom to know it's me. ~Unknown